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Monday, April 28, 2008

The Great State of...

I'm relatively sure by now that everyone has heard about the Austrian man who held his daughter captive for 24 years. The poor woman was lured to the cellar when she was eleven years old, and has borne seven children to her father, one of which was a twin that died due to lack of proper care, three of which were adopted and fostered by the father and his wife, and three of which shared the basement with their mother.

His wife, Rosemarie, appears to have been unaware of the alleged crimes.
...

The rooms, covering an area of approximately 60 sq-metres, were equipped for sleeping and cooking, and with sanitary facilities.

Pictures of Josef F's house and cellar

"Everything was very, very narrow and the victim herself, the mother of these six or seven children, told us that this was being continually enlarged over the years," a spokesman said.

...

She disappeared on 28 August 1984 when, according to her testimony, Josef lured her into the cellar, drugging and handcuffing her before locking her up.

Her parents said they had received a letter in her handwriting a month later asking them not to search for her, and it was assumed she had run away.

-BBC news report

How do you miss that? Wouldn't your first clue be that your husband is continually spending time in the basement, expanding it mysteriously, and that he shows up dying to foster three kids? Wouldn't this woman want to go to the orphanage or state home where the foster kids were kept originally to meet them? Wouldn't she have to use their birth certificates or social security for something (such as enrolling them in school, for example)?

How do you not have to go down to your own basement for something in 24 years? And wouldn't most mothers ignore the note saying not to come looking for their child, and come looking for them anyways? This story reminds me of those people who find a python underneath their house that has been living there for months. You would think that they would find some clue earlier on that would give them some hint. Snake skins...or missing animals. Something.

To top off all the sickness...
Mr Polzer told the BBC that Josef had admitted to sexually abusing his daughter, named only as Elisabeth F, repeatedly during the time he imprisoned her.

He said Josef had told investigators that one of their children had died in infancy and that he had taken the body and thrown it into an incinerator in the building.

So, he picks out his favorite of the three children, starves one of the twins, and throws the body into the incinerator. Beautiful.

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